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From the onset the relationship between the soul and matter is responsible for worldly existence. Apart from the gross organic body there is a subtle body which serves as a link between the soul and the material body, and which is only discarded at liberation. The disintegrating matter particles of this subtle body are replenished in a continuous succession, and thus the subtle body remains intact. It is the subtle body, which includes the karmic body that holds the soul in worldly cycles.
There are eight main types and 158 sub-types of karma. They are subtle matter particles of peculiar potency, more mysterious than molecular DNA. The main forms of karma are faith obscuring, knowledge obscuring, deluding, energy obstructive, feeling producing, lifespan determining, body producing and status determining. The first four are obscuring in nature and the last four are non-obscuring in nature. Shedding of the four obscuring karma endows the soul with infinite faith, infinite knowledge, infinite energy and perfect conduct as found in omniscience, and shedding of all eight types of karma makes the soul liberated. We will discuss further aspects of Jain philosophy: the path of purification, the substances, the cosmos as described in the Jain canon, karma, the teachings, Right Conduct and the stages of liberation, in the chapters that follow.
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